9.5/10
Easily the BEST game I've played in Ages (no pun intended)
(***Start Early Game Spoiler Alert****)
Right off the bat, the opening cinematic drills the main theme of the story into your soul and makes you understand just how powerful The Blight (the main protagonist) are (they nearly wiped out all living things 400 years ago) and you immediately learn where they originally came from (stupid Mages).
The only thing that saved all of us from extinction was the mysterious Grey Wardens. A group of men, dwarves and elves, they seemed to come from no where, and fought with the strength, speed and tenacity of no regular man could ever possess. They drove The Blight out of the lands and protected us from them over the centuries.
But that was 400 years ago, and things have changed. Nobody respects them anymore, they are rarely ever seen, their numbers dwindle and The Blight seem to be returning to the lands in the South.
(***End Early Game Spoiler Alert****)
The character customization is really awesome...but if you're anxious to get into the game, you can select 1 of the 10 or so presets (I'm guilty of doing this).
Then you immediately have to select a race, 1 of 3 professions, and depending on those selections, your background. For example, a human warrior MUST come from Noble background, however, a human mage (or any mage for that matter) MUST come from a Magi background.
This selection not only changes the early portions of the story, but also greatly affects how others in the world will interact.
For example, I met a guy in a distance village. When I asked him where we was from, he happened to be a commoner from my lands and talked very matter of factly with an "in your face" attitude. When I told him I was the son of the lord of that area, his demeanor immediately changed.....not a huge deal at the end of the day, but the attention to that kind of detail is found throughout the game and if you really want to get involved in the Lore, its a great feeling.
Graphics are outstanding and are only matched by the AMAZING sound track. Standing still anywhere in the world, put your headset on and close your eyes....you'll feel like you are living and breathing in that area. Sounds are rarely repeated, conversations close by are relevant to the ongoing story, coughs/sneezes/distant conversations/doors/carriages/dogs/horses...you name it, you can literally feel the sounds of the city bustling around you....truly AMAZING.
Another nice touch is the blood splatter. I always wondered how in other games I was able to slash an enemy limb from limb and come away without even a scratch on my armor. In Dragon Age, you'll rarely come away from a battle unscathed. Being drenched in blood, and then talking with other characters (even your Mother) like nothing is wrong adds a bit of comedy to the otherwise dark theme.
The voice acting is incredible. The seemingly endless dialog between party members, the emotions you'll experience while watching cut scenes and the countless chat selection interactions with NPCs are all a tribute to the obvious amount of time and effort spent in ensuring all characters seemed unique, sounded like their personality should and helped build onto an incredible story (albeit stolen from Lord of the Rings).
Finally, the combat. One word, incredible. You have the option of playing it like an action game, but for more serious battles, you MUST play it like a strategy game. The quick ability to pause/unpause the game makes it incredibly easy to order players around. Having a balanced group is essential, so choose your friends wisely. If you're more interested in just focusing on yourself most of the time, setting up proper Combat Tactics is essential! The Combat Tactics system is so in depth that virtually any combination of events you can think of, can have a preset solution. (Self->Surrounded->By X Enemies->Cast X Spell or Use X Item...etc) or (Enemy->Using Melee Attack->Cast Arcane Bolt) or (Self->Being Attacked->By Ranged->Use Mode Shield Wall).....extremely easy to use and extremely powerful in action.
The first time an Ogre grabs you and starts smacking you silly will be the time you fall in love with RPG party combat all over again.
Overall, this game is aMazing. Captial M because they've done a great job of not throwing in unnecessary profanity to get their M rating, but instead utilizing incredible graphics and story telling to display shear visible violence, attention to detail (regardless of how gruesome it is), and the sheer emotions that will be stirred up in your soul as the story unravels.
If you're even a remote fan of the RPG genere and don't own this game, you're denying yourself of one of the best and well done RPGs released this decade.
SideNote: If you're trying to decide on Console or PC, I'll make it easy for you, if you have a good machine, get the PC, if youre machine is average, still get the PC, if you live in the dark ages and your machine can't run this, get the Console. There is absolutely no reason to get the Console version if your PC will run it, but there is countless reason to get the PC. (Better graphics, tactical view, quick bar, combat mechanics, etc.)
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